Cedella Marley-Booker

Cedella Malcolm Marley Booker (July 23, 1926 – April 8, 2008) was the mother of Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley and a singer and writer. Booker was born Cedella Malcolm in Rhoden Hall, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica; to Omeriah Malcolm, a prominent magistrate and landowner, and Alberta Whilby. At 18, Malcolm married Norval Sinclair Marley, a white Jamaican of English ancestry, when she became pregnant with his son. Norval Marley was a Marine officer and captain as well as the plantation overseer. His family applied constant pressure however, and although he provided financial support for them, the Captain seldom saw his wife and son. Bob was ten years old when Norval died of a heart attack in 1955 at age 70. Cedella and Bob then moved to...